Sweden

Swedish police on Wednesday tightened border checks after a valuable artwork by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch was stolen from a manor in southern Sweden. Thieves broke into the summer home of a Norwegian ship owner near Horby, 360 miles south of Stockholm, late Tuesday and stole the painting worth an estimated $138,000, police spokesman Per Jansson said. Works by the Norwegian painter, who died in 1944, are a popular target for thieves.

Swedish tax officials want former ABBA star Bjorn Ulvaeus to pay $2.1 million for undeclared royalties from the supergroup's hits dating back decades. It is the second time the Swedish Tax Authority has claimed the 61-year-old singer dodged taxes by not declaring millions in royalties going back decades, officials said Thursday. Victor Palm, a tax official, said that authorities suspect royalty payments to Ulvaeus were made to companies operating in foreign tax havens.

"A Taste of Sweden" sandwiches 15 pages of well-organized information between 16 pages of color photographs and overviews of Stockholm and various regions of the Scandinavian nation. "Sweden A to Z" has alphabetized facts on everything from gasoline prices to tour companies, plus a directory of Internet sites. (212) 885-9700, www.visit-sweden.com.

A Russian man who hijacked an Aeroflot passenger jet to Sweden to escape service in the Soviet army was freed from prison Tuesday after serving half his four-year sentence. Mikhail Mokretsov, 20, said two weeks ago he had gone on a hunger strike to demand that he be allowed to remain in Sweden when he was released. He said he faces imprisonment if he is returned to Russia. The government's Culture Department is reviewing whether he can remain in Sweden.

Sweden's ruling Social Democrats on Friday proposed the closure of two nuclear stations by 1996, the first step toward scrapping all 12 of its nuclear plants. Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson said the top priority is now to find a credible alternative to the nuclear network, which accounts for 50% of national energy needs.

Sweden reached the gold-medal match in men's team handball, rallying to beat Spain, 25-20, to remain unbeaten in the tournament. Pierre Thorsson had seven goals on only eight shots for Sweden, which will meet Croatia on Sunday. Patrik Cavar scored eight goals in Croatia's 24-20 upset of world-champion France. Spain took a 12-10 lead over Sweden on goals by Aitor Etxaburu and Salvador Esquer late in the first half.

In the relatively short history of women's hockey in the Olympics, the United States has enjoyed many more successes than failures. An upset loss to Sweden in the semifinals of 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy, stands out as the low point. The Americans led 2-0 before the Swedes roared back for a 3-2 shootout win that denied the Americans a chance to face rival Canada for the gold medal. The U.S. was left playing for the bronze, which it won by defeating Finland, 4-0. Canada beat Sweden, 4-1, for the gold.

Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestine Liberation Organization will meet a group of prominent American Jews here today, Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Hallqvist announced. Members of the group asked that their names remain secret until after the talks, Hallqvist said. "They represent a significant part of Jewish opinion in the United States," he added. He said the meeting was part of Sweden's effort to help the peace process in the Middle East.

Swedish police reached the midship cabins of a burned-out ferry and found families who died together at the heart of the fire, the bodies of parents lying over children in a desperate attempt to save them. Inspector Leif Skoglund raised the estimated death toll to 170 in the suspicious weekend blaze that swept the Norwegian North Sea ferry Scandinavian Star. He said one victim in every four may have been a child.

South African black nationalist Nelson R. Mandela and ailing Oliver R. Tambo, president of the African National Congress, held an emotional reunion after 27 years. A jubilant crowd of Swedes and Africans greeted Mandela and his wife, Winnie, at the Stockholm airport after they arrived from Tanzania. Mandela, 71, and Tambo, 72, once law partners, had not seen each other since Mandela was jailed in South Africa 27 years ago and Tambo went into exile. They met at a castle near Stockholm.